Vermonters in the Civil War
Collection Overview
Vermont soldiers in the Civil War wrote an enormous quantity of letters and diaries, of which many thousands have survived in libraries, historical societies, and in private hands. This collection represents a selection of letters and diaries from the University of Vermont and the Vermont Historical Society.
The collection includes materials dating from 1861 at the start of the Civil War, and will grow with additional materials throughout the years of the sesquicentennial commemoration, from 2011 through 2015. Materials were selected for digitization to provide a variety of perspectives on events and issues. The voices represented in the collection include private soldiers and officers, as well as a few civilians. All of the extant Civil War-era letters or diaries of each of the selected individuals (at least, all that are to be found in the participating institutions’ collections) will eventually be included; each adds a certain experience and point of view to the whole.
1861
In 1861, Vermont produced a three-month volunteer infantry regiment (the First Vermont Infantry) that served in Virginia from May through July. Five additional volunteer infantry regiments, mustered for three-year terms and numbered consecutively, were put in the field in the summer and fall, camping first in Washington and at Camp Griffin through the fall and winter. The First Vermont Cavalry regiment was also mustered and sent south in the fall of 1861.
Subject content for the 1861 letters and diaries covers a great deal of ground. The many logistical issues involved in launching the war effort come to light in the letters of General John W. Phelps, while officers such as Lieutenant Roswell Farnham often made thoughtful observations on the events and personalities in the camps and in the field. The enlisted men occasionally described important events in detail, but more often wrote about everyday life and concerns. Eyewitness accounts of engagements at Big Bethel (June 9-10), Bull Run (July 21), and Lewinsville (September 11) reveal the motivations and expectations of the men in arms, while descriptions of living conditions, drilling, sickness, and political intrigue provide insight on the soldiers’ experiences.
Officers in the photo above are (from left to right): Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Stoughton, Colonel Edwin H. Stoughton, Major Harry N. Worthen. All are from the Fourth Vermont Infantry Regiment.
Time Period Covered: 1861
Sub-collections
Charles F. Bancroft Correspondence
Horace Barlow Diary
Valentine G. Barney Correspondence
John Lester Barstow Correspondence
Barton Family Correspondence
John W. Campbell Correspondence
Roswell Farnham Correspondence
Justus F. Gale Correspondence
Solomon G. Heaton Correspondence
William Wirt Henry Correspondence
William C. Holbrook Correspondence
Albert A. May Correspondence
Benjamin F. Parmenter Correspondence
Joseph L. Perkins Correspondence
John Wolcott Phelps Correspondence
George W. Quimby Correspondence
Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
Henry A. Smith Correspondence
Joseph Spafford Correspondence
Edward and John Stone Correspondence
Ransom W. Towle Correspondence
Orlando S. Turner Correspondence
Wheelock Graves Veazey Correspondence
Daniel S. White Correspondence
Henry Harrison Wilder Correspondence
Lyman Williams Correspondence
Published: April 11, 2011, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Center for Digital Initiatives
Rights: Requests to reproduce this item should be sent to the UVM Libraries' Center for Digital Initiatives at cdi@uvm.edu. For more information, see http://cdi.uvm.edu/about/rights. More information.
Browse Options
Creator(s)
- Smith, Henry A., d. 1864 [2]
- Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889 [1]
- Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863 [1]
- Henry, William Wirt, 1831-1915 [1]
- Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866 [1]
Recipient(s)
- , [2]
- Barney,Maria, 1833-1884 [1]
- Gale,Almeda A., 1835-1876 [1]
- Henry, Mary Jane, [1]
- Spafford, Mary Jane, [1]
Place(s)
- Culpeper County (Va.) [1]
- Military camps -- Virginia [1]
- Military campsVirginia [1]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons [1]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Flags [1]
Topic(s)
- Confederate States of AmericaArmy [6]
- Prisoners of war [6]
- Armed Forces Officers [1]
- Battle casualties [1]
- Diseases [1]
- McClellan, George Brinton1826-1885 [1]
- Military deserters [1]
- Military hospitals [1]
- Picketing [1]
- Postal service [1]
- Skirmishing [1]
- Sutlers [1]
- United StatesArmy Flags [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 8th (1861-1865) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 9th (1862-1865) [1]
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Topic: ("Prisoners of war")
Topic: ("Confederate States of AmericaArmy")
Title: Henry A. Smith to Family
Creator: Smith, Henry A., d. 1864
Date: 1862-08-14
Resource type: correspondence
Six miles south of Culpeper (Virginia) two letters included dated Aug 15 and Aug 15. Topics include an exchange of fire near the Orange Court House, the numerous rebel deaths, injuries, and prisoners, and another terrible battle at Culpeper with references to Jackson, Banks and John Pope.
Title: Henry A. Smith to Family
Creator: Smith, Henry A., d. 1864
Date: 1862-07-05
Resource type: correspondence
From Snickers Ferry on the Shenandoah River topics include news from Richmond, rumor that Stonewall Jackson was killed, having enough to eat including local peaches & cherries found in Virginia, horses well fed, men on picket duty, newspaper report that General McClellan taken prisoner along with 40,000 of his men, and Henry Smith's homesickness.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-30
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the whole brigade on picket duty on Bull Run, a catholic church having been emptied of its pews so as to used for a hospital, a brief encounter with Rebel soldiers, Spafford's anger with the Rebels being able to infiltrate the Union troops, the captured rebel prisoner stated aim was to take Sutler's supplies, acceptance of officers' resignations and the potential promotion of George Clark to Captain.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Sister
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-11-18
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the being saddened by the ill health of his family in Elmore, enjoying good health himself, troops living in an apparently abandoned house in Bayou Boeuf, La., the parole of the prisoners who are still alive (not clear but these may be Union soldiers taken prisoners as some were shot for running from their army and joining a Union regiment), the movement of the army on the Potomac and still unable to get a photograph of himself taken.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-08-28
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the capturing of some Rebels at Newtown who stated Rebels do not go hungry as long a Union troops are around from which to steal food, issues with the postal mail service, the difficulty of getting rest in camp, and the sickness of the regiment.
Title: William Wirt Henry to Mary Jane Henry
Creator: Henry, William Wirt, 1831-1915
Date: 1862-02-23
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include a travel route planned to return home via Annapolis, Brattleboro and maybe even Burlington, the capture of 18 Rebel prisoners near Fairfax, and the hope of one of the wounded prisoners, a Virginian, to retake the oath to become a citizen of the United States again, reference to a Flag of Truce to send a letter to the Confederate Army, his side business doing poorly as the men have expected orders to move and the Sutlers not buying for the same reason.
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